Gearboy

While modern video games come with impressive graphics and better user experience, sometimes you may be in the mood to replay the stories of Zelda, Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog. Since these games cannot run on the latest versions of Windows, you need an emulator to get them up and running.

Gearboy is a lightweight utility that provides the environment to emulate retro games and hence, let you relieve cherished memories.

Even though the tool is not truly portable, the setup entails decompressing the archive in the desired location on your system. The app comes with an intuitive, old-school interface and you can get started by loading the desired game. For enhanced convenience, the tool logs the last ROMs used, so you can easily switch to other games.

Among the noteworthy features you can count, LCD dot matrix effect, cheat support (GameShark and Game Genie), accurate LCD controller emulation, Game Boy color support, accurate instruction and memory timing, accurate CPU emulation, LCD screen ghosting effect (as in the original Game Boy) and sound emulation using SDL Audio.

It is worth mentioning that the app comes with an advanced debugger, which you can employ when the tool cannot start a game due to various errors. You can also use the debugger if a previously played game starts crashing or behaves strange, although it was working fine during the last sessions.

The debugger packs numerous functions and options that can account for most potential errors and includes debug symbols, memory editor, sprites, backgrounds, palettes, breakpoints, disassembler, VRAM viewer and an IO inspector.

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that Gearboy supports quite a handful of platforms, including, but not limited to Playstation 3 and Vita, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, WiiU and Switch Emscripten as well as the classic mini systems.